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271 of 273 people found the following review helpful.
Best Solar Powered Radio For The Price….No Battery Option
By Ambergris
Weather radios are sort of a sparetime activity of mine. There is just in regards to no place I may go on my property that there isn’t one within reach somewhere. Six dissimilar brands are represented presently by what I own, including a more highpriced Eton that is not my best radio. This small, (and I mean small) new line from Eton is a whole new animal to be sure. Its controls and design are very user friendly. And the reception on all channels, including the weather, is very earsplitting and clear. Its unfeigned that the dial numbers for the AM FM are very little as numerous other reviewers have cited and may make it hard to tune accurately. But that is something common, as well as for me expected in a radio so small. What sets this unit detached from all the others I own in my sentiment is it is price and solar power. It is without a doubt the most inexpensive weather radio I have come all over that is solar powered. Big, small, or otherwise. Even altho one has been capable to buy solar powered calculators at discount stores for less than $10 for years now, for a good deal of reason the weather radio industry has treated solar power as something still high tech and to be cherished only in their most costly units. My only other solar powered radio cost me over $60. The only possible down side that I ought to mention in regards to this radio is that it does not take batteries. It would have been nice if they included that option. But they didn’t and it is either the solar power or crank. This could be a very huge negative for some folks who would feel comfortable knowing they could just stick a good deal of batteries in it if all else fails. Although 90% of the time the solar power is all you will have to ever need, if you will routinely keep this in a rather dark place, or take place to be lost out in the savage wilderness someplace with this radio in a uninterrupted cloud cover, be ready to do a whole heap of crankin’. All in all, it is at long last nice to see a very reasonably priced unit that is solar powered and of a very quality build and design as well. I highly commend the Eton for a portable unit that may be taken anyplace easily, powered effortlessly, and gives quality performance all in one package….
103 of 104 persons found the following review helpful.
Pleasantly astonished with the battery life
By Mark Wagner
This radio is an splendid radio for the price. No, it is not a top-end emergency radio, but it will have to work rather well for anybody looking for a basic AM/FM/Weather radio with both a solar and hand-crank charging option. I purchased mine regarding a year ago and used it only most times for the introductory few months. Then I placed it on a shelf with fixed light and there it sat for when it comes to six to eight months. About six weeks ago I dusted it off and it actually worked for with regards to an hour or so with no hand-crank charging. Later that day I sat it in the front window where it would get a great deal of direct sun light. A couple days later I picked it up from the window and have been using it a few hours each day since; a heap of of those days it was used for more than six hours in the basement. I have not necessitated to crank it at all, but did crank charge it for regarding one minute total just while playing with it – for the record. Since then, I have been keeping it on the shelf out in the open where it is exposed to normal room daylight, no direct sunlight. The charging light does not light up in this setting, and I would not suppose it to. I have from time to time taken it out on the front porch to sit a listen where there is direct sunlight, but only for in regards to an hour or so each week. I in truth like the idea of not having to buy batteries, and the comfortableness of knowing I always have a charged radio.
The flashlight is minimal, but I would not suppose more from an LED light source. I have my 6-D-Cell Mag light if I need a powerful (luxury) light source.
Tuning the radio is a bit sensible and may be difficult to fine tune. I would consider this to be a SIGNIFICANT problem for an elderly person or any person without the use of fine motor attainments in their hands; but for me it is a minor hassle I am more than willing and competent to deal with. I have considered getting the Eaton FR600 for it is digital tuner. The reviews for that model suggest the battery life is finelooking bad, so I have decisive to wait for an bettered model. For now, my FR160 is just fine. I would consider giving this 5-stars if the fine-tuning was much easier.
The USB charge does work, but recognise that it will not charge an iPhone 3Gs. This is more a problem/restriction of the iPhone 3Gs (a widely discussed complaint all over the Internet for many-many generic charging devices) and is not because of the radio. Charging my old Samsung phone was not a problem.
The weather bands do pick up a signal, but to be utterly honest, I have not applied it much to provide any real opinion.
The hand-crank charger feels solid sufficient (I wouldn’t abuse it) and tucks away securely when not used. I have found the manual crank-charger will provide in regards to 25-30 minutes of radio time (at in regards to 1/4 to 1/3 volume) for each minute of crank-charging. I intermediate with regards to 2 cranks per second or regarding 120 rotation per minute. Now I just count to 120 or so rather of watching the clock. This play-time per craink-time yeild has been very satisfactory for me. After two minutes of crank-charging my hand does begins to tire a little, but just a little. If I leave the radio in a place with good direct sunlight when not using it, altering thru the crank is never even needed.
In short, it works for what I want – a radio that that may be charged by sunlight or by hand-crank when perfectly necessary. If you want the construction and feature-set of a $100+ radio – buy a $100+ radio. But, for $30 (or less), I am pleased with the FR160.
61 of 64 humans found the following review helpful.
The Perfect Emergency Radio!
By William L. Drevo, Jr.
The reasons this Eton-manufactured emergency radio is the idealisti emergency radio are: 1) small, compact size, 2) shock-absorbing case, 3) sensible AM/FM/NOAA Weather tuner picks up weak signals, 4) handy 3-LED flashlight on left-hand end of the radio’s case, 5) Earphone jack under dust cover on the right-hand side of the case, 6) USB port under same dust cover on the right-hand side of the case, 7) All radio bands will run 4-5 hours at low volume on full charge of the internal NiMH battery, 
Solar panel on top of the radio’s case is strong sufficient to power the radio indefinitely (as long as the solar panel is ‘seeing’ daylight), 9) the internal NiMH may be re-charged thru the solar panel for the duration of daylight hours, an external transformer or the hand-cranked dynamo. You get all of these features for the low price of $30, plus free ‘Super Saver’ shipping from Amazon.Com. You may compensate a lot more for an emergency radio and get a whole lot less!
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